13. WHAT WERE POPULAR FORMS OF MUSIC, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, SONGS, COMPOSERS, AND MUSICIANS IN SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND? HOW WERE THESE DIFFERENT IN URBAN/RURAL LIFE? HOW WERE THESE DIFFERENT IN NOBLE/MERCHANT/COMMON LIFE? Nico D Music was a big part of entertainment during Elizabethan times. Music was used in plays to set moods and to highlight emotions. Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories all had music to go with it; this music was known as theatre music. Instruments like the viol, hautboy, spinet, harpsichord, and virginals helped created beautifully refined sound. Famous composers during Elizabethan times were Thomas Campion, Robert Johnson, and William Byrd; the music they played varied from background music, entertainment, and church music. Another place music took place was the streets of London. People called street musicians would play music for the people walking in the streets walking by. There were many musical differences between the upper and lower class. Music in the upper class is more professional, everyone is expected to be able to read music and play it. Lower class workers had to come up with their own music; they would sing while they worked, before and after meals, and at church. Since the idea of mp3’s or CD’s hadn’t been thought of there are musicians called waits that would perform public “concerts”. Many of the instruments and music back then still exist today but in different form like the viol which is now the violin. Works Cited
Nico D
Music was a big part of entertainment during Elizabethan times. Music was used in plays to set moods and to highlight emotions. Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories all had music to go with it; this music was known as theatre music. Instruments like the viol, hautboy, spinet, harpsichord, and virginals helped created beautifully refined sound. Famous composers during Elizabethan times were Thomas Campion, Robert Johnson, and William Byrd; the music they played varied from background music, entertainment, and church music. Another place music took place was the streets of London. People called street musicians would play music for the people walking in the streets walking by. There were many musical differences between the upper and lower class. Music in the upper class is more professional, everyone is expected to be able to read music and play it. Lower class workers had to come up with their own music; they would sing while they worked, before and after meals, and at church. Since the idea of mp3’s or CD’s hadn’t been thought of there are musicians called waits that would perform public “concerts”. Many of the instruments and music back then still exist today but in different form like the viol which is now the violin.
Works Cited
Duffin, Ross. Shakespeare's Songbook. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. Print.
"Elizabethan Music." N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2010. <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-music.htm>.
"Southwark, London." In Search of Shakespeare. PBS, 2003. Web. http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/locations/location207.html.
Toht, Betony. Cities through Time. Daily Life in Ancient and Modern London. Minneapolis: Runestone Press, 2001. Print.